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At least 109 records · Page 6

Data management in pattern recognition and image processing systems

Data management considerations are important to any system which handles large volumes of data or where the manipulation of data is technically sophisticated. A particular problem is the introduction of image-formatted files into the mainstream of data processing application. This report describes a comprehensive system for the manipulation of image, tabular, and graphical data sets which involve conversions between the various data types. A key characteristic is the use of image processing technology to accomplish data management tasks. Because of this, the term 'image-based information system' has been adopted.

Zobrist, A. L.↗

Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE) Test Operations in 2003

NASA has identified the development of an autonomously operating spacecraft as a necessity for an expanded program of missions exploring the Solar System. The Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE) has been selected for flight demonstration by NASA s New Millennium Program (NMP) as part of the Space Technology 6 (ST6) mission. ASE is scheduled to fly on the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Techsat-21 constellation in 2006. Tech- Sat-21 consists of three satellites flying in a variable-geometry formation in Earth orbit. Each satellite is equipped with X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar, yielding high spatial resolution images (approx. 3 m) of the Earth s surface. The constellation will fly at an altitude of 550 km, in a 35.4 inclination circular orbit, yielding exact repeat-track observations every 13 days. Prior to full deployment, elements of the versatile ASE spacecraft command and control software, image formation software and science processing software will be utilized and tested on two very different platforms in 2003: AirSAR and EO-1 (described below). Advantages of Autonomous Operations: ASE will demonstrate advanced autonomous science data acquisition, processing, and product downlink prioritization, as well as autonomous spacecraft command and control, and fault detection. The advantages of spacecraft autonomy are to future missions include: (a) making the best use of reduced downlink; (b) the overcoming of communication delays through decisionmaking in situ, enabling fast reaction to dynamic events; (c) an increase of science content per byte of returned data; and (d) an avoidance of return of null (no-change/no feature) datasets: if there is no change detectable between two scenes of the same target, there is no need to return the second dataset.

Chien, S.↗

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data processing

The available and optimal methods for generating SAR imagery for NASA applications were identified. The SAR image quality and data processing requirements associated with these applications were studied. Mathematical operations and algorithms required to process sensor data into SAR imagery were defined. The architecture of SAR image formation processors was discussed, and technology necessary to implement the SAR data processors used in both general purpose and dedicated imaging systems was addressed.

Beckner, F. L.↗

User alternatives in post-processing for raster-to-vector conversion

A number of Landsat-based coniferous forest stratum maps have been created of the Eldorado National Forest in California. These maps were produced in raster image format which is not directly usable by the U.S. Forest Service's vector-based Wildland Resource Information System (WRIS). As a solution, raster-to-vector conversion software has been developed for processing classified images into polygonal data structures. Before conversion, however, the digital classification images must be simplified to remove high spatial variance ('noise', 'speckle') and meet a USFS ten acre minimum requirement. A post-processing (simplification) strategy different from those commonly used in raster image processing may be desired for preparing maps for conversion to vector format, because simplification routines typically permit diagonal connections in the process of reclassifying pixels and forming new polygons. Diagonal connections are often undesirable when converting to vector format because they permit polygons to effectively cross over each other and occupy a common location. Three alternative methodologies are discussed for simplifying raster data for conversion to vector format.

Logan, T. L.↗

The Viking Mosaic Catalog, Volume 2

A collection of more than 500 mosaics prepared from Viking Orbiter images is given. Accompanying each mosaic is a footprint plot, which identifies by location, picture number, and order number, each frame in the mosaic. Corner coordinates and pertinent imaging information are also included. A short text provides the camera characteristics, image format, and data processing information necessary for using the mosaic plates as a research aide. Procedures for ordering mosaic enlargements and individual images are also provided.

Evans, N.↗

An information theory characterization of radar images and a new definition for radiometric resolution

The noise properties of the radar image formation process are used in the present modeling of a communication channel in which the desired target properties are the information transmitted, and the final image represents the received signal. The average information rate over this communication channel is calculated together with appropriate bounds and approximations, and is found to be small on a per-sample basis. As a result, many samples must be averaged to allow for the discrimination, or classification, of several levels of target reflectivity. These information rate properties are consistent with known results concerning target detection and image quality in speckle, and the rate is applicable to the definition of radar image radiometric resolution. Radiometric resolution is functionally related to the degree of noncoherent averaging performed by the sensor.

Frost, V. S.↗

Lunar Terrain and Albedo Reconstruction from Apollo Imagery

Generating accurate three dimensional planetary models and albedo maps is becoming increasingly more important as NASA plans more robotics missions to the Moon in the coming years. This paper describes a novel approach for separation of topography and albedo maps from orbital Lunar images. Our method uses an optimal Bayesian correlator to refine the stereo disparity map and generate a set of accurate digital elevation models (DEM). The albedo maps are obtained using a multi-image formation model that relies on the derived DEMs and the Lunar- Lambert reflectance model. The method is demonstrated on a set of high resolution scanned images from the Apollo era missions.

Nefian, Ara V.↗

UIT support observations archive

We are in the process of archiving the approximately 1.2Tbytes of imaging data acquired in support of UIT observations. The UIT is one of three telescopes comprising the ASTRO spacecraft and is a 38-cm f/9 Ritchey-Chretien telescope with wavelength coverage 1200 A to 3000 A and a 40 arcminute diameter field-of-view at 4 min FWHM resolution. During the ASTRO shuttle mission, there were 65 different pointings (some with multiple targets) of the UIT and hence 65 fields. Our support data of these fields were obtained with the KPNO and CTIO 0.9m telescopes and several of the 2048x2048 CCD's. Our images are typically about 20 acrminutes on a side and contain the entire UV target except for nearby galaxies, for which mosaiced images were created. All good quality images in the broadband and narrow band filters for every target are being archived. Though all of the UIT targets were well studied astronomical objects, these frames are many of the first large field format images of them and, when combined with the soon to be released UV frames, provide a unique dataset. These data were already used to address a wide variety of astronomical questions. Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) observations were used to study star formation in a sample of nearby galaxies, since integrated VUV - optical colors provide the most sensitive available measure of the formation rate of massive stars. The blue stages later in stellar evolution are also being studied. These data allow more accurate determination of the helium and metallicities of hothorzontal branch stars. These data are being prepared to release to the public in CD-ROM format through the National Space Science Data Center.

Smith, Eric P.↗

How to use the WWW to distribute STI

This presentation explains how to use the World Wide Web (WWW) to distribute scientific and technical information as hypermedia. WWW clients and servers use the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to transfer documents containing links to other text, graphics, video, and sound. The standard language for these documents is the HyperText MarkUp Language (HTML). These are simply text files with formatting codes that contain layout information and hyperlinks. HTML documents can be created with any text editor or with one of the publicly available HTML editors or convertors. HTML can also include links to available image formats. This presentation is available online. The URL is http://sti.larc.nasa. (followed by) gov/demos/workshop/introtext.html.

Roper, Donna G.↗

NORSEX 1979 microwave remote sensing data report

Airborne microwave remote sensing measurements obtained by NASA Langley Research Center in support of the 1979 Norwegian Remote Sensing Experiment (NORSEX) are summarized. The objectives of NORSEX were to investigate the capabilities of an active/passive microwave system to measure ice concentration and type in the vicinity of the marginal ice zone near Svalbard, Norway and to apply microwave techniques to the investigation of a thermal oceanic front near Bear Island, Norway. The instruments used during NORSEX include the stepped frequency microwave radiometer, airborne microwave scatterometer, precision radiation thermometer and metric aerial photography. The data are inventoried, summarized, and presented in a user-friendly format. Data summaries are presented as time-history plots which indicate when and where data were obtained as well as the sensor configuration. All data are available on nine-track computer tapes in card-image format upon request to the NASA Langley Technical Library.

Hennigar, H. F.↗

Image-plane processing of visual information

Shannon's theory of information is used to optimize the optical design of sensor-array imaging systems which use neighborhood image-plane signal processing for enhancing edges and compressing dynamic range during image formation. The resultant edge-enhancement, or band-pass-filter, response is found to be very similar to that of human vision. Comparisons of traits in human vision with results from information theory suggest that: (1) Image-plane processing, like preprocessing in human vision, can improve visual information acquisition for pattern recognition when resolving power, sensitivity, and dynamic range are constrained. Improvements include reduced sensitivity to changes in lighter levels, reduced signal dynamic range, reduced data transmission and processing, and reduced aliasing and photosensor noise degradation. (2) Information content can be an appropriate figure of merit for optimizing the optical design of imaging systems when visual information is acquired for pattern recognition. The design trade-offs involve spatial response, sensitivity, and sampling interval.

Huck, F. O.↗

Development of Machine Learning Algorithms to Segment and Study Images of Astromaterial Samples

Introduction: Micrometer-scale chemical analyses of chondritic meteorites and mission-returned asteroid samples can reveal details of the physical and chemical processes operating in the early solar system, including processes that gave rise to planets, moons, and minor bodies. These primitive astromaterials are comprised of chondrules, calcium- and aluminum-rich inclusions (CAI), and many other silicates, oxides, metals, sulfides, and fine-grained materials. The chemical and mineralogical complexity of these samples, vast populations of different components, and heterogeneity across mm to km scales, all limit our understanding of the origin and evolution of these materials. Here, we describe recent efforts to use machine learning techniques to automate the segmentation of chemical maps of chondritic meteorites, designed to aid studies of asteroid samples returned by spacecraft. By automating the task of segmentation it will become possible to rapidly analyze and interpret the sizes, shapes, mineralogy, chemistry, and other properties of every chondrule, calcium- and aluminum-rich inclusion (CAI) and other clast within and between asteroid samples. Sample return missions significantly accelerate and heighten the need to develop such new data analysis techniques, and associated data repositories. Techniques: Neural networks require abundant training data, i.e. images which have been segmented by a human user. We have manually segmented data available from previous petrologic and chemical work at NASA Johnson Space Center and the American Museum of Natural History [1-4]. These data were derived from energy- and wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS, WDS) mapping of samples from many chondrite groups. The Deeplabv3+ [5] neural network architecture was trained on human-labeled masks and used to create machine-labeled masks. Several different algorithms were investigated, with inputs ranging from common RGB image formats through to hyperspectral datasets, with raw data comprising greyscale maps of Mg, Ca, and Al, with or without Si, Fe, Ti for both EDS and WDS data, and extending to other elements in EDS only. Each greyscale image was paired with a binary mask for each labelled particle type. Results: The trained algorithms can segment (Fig 1), classify, and measure the dimensions of thousands of particles in chemical maps of a standard 1-inch round petrographic section in seconds to minutes, rather than many hours needed by a human. Accuracy of the algorithms varied from chondrite to chondrite and across particle types. Further results and details of the algorithms will be presented at the workshop. Future directions: Machine learning has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of complex particle populations contained within primitive astromaterial, with segmentation being a critical first step. Example applications include better understanding of particle transport, nebular reservoirs, parent body accretion, and a deeper understanding of the relationships between particle populations and bulk rock elemental and isotopic compositions. In addition to benefits that machine learning can bring to individual researchers, building a community data repository of thousands to millions of particles across hundreds of samples will open up many other possibilities. For example, with a large enough dataset it will be possible to search for exceptionally closely matching particles across disparate samples. Such a capability would enable a single CAI from OSIRISREx or Hayabusa/II samples to be matched to chondritic CAIs that exhibit near-identical size, texture, and mineralogy, down to the level of similar core phenocrysts, zonation, and rim sequences. Such comparative analyses will help to disentangle precursor chemistry, chronology, gas/dust reservoirs during heating, and accretion. Such an endeavor would be impossible without machine learning and a large community data repository of astromaterial chemical/mineralogic maps.

Machine Learning↗

High resolution multispectral camera system for ERTS A & B.

A very-high resolution multispectral television camera system is being developed for use on the earth resources technology satellite (ERTS) program. There are three cameras in the system, each viewing the same area but operating in the blue-green, red, and near-infrared spectral bands. In the laboratory the cameras' limiting resolution is 4500 TV lines over the 25 + 25-mm image format of the return beam vidicon (RBV). A model was developed to predict the resolving power performance of the RBV camera under realistic conditions. To verify the model, tests were conducted using the RBV camera, a laser-beam image reproducer and a series of AF tribar test patterns of known values of contrast. As a more graphic demonstration, simulated multispectral images were generated using color-IR photographs from Apollo 9. The measured signal-to-noise, resolution, and spectral characteristics of the ERTS Flight A and Flight B three-camera systems are presented in conclusion.

Miller, B. P.↗

Transmission Electron Microscopy of Single Wall Carbon Nanotube/Polymer Nanocomposites: A First-Principles Study

The physics of HRTEM image formation and electron diffraction of SWCNT in a polymer matrix were investigated theoretically on the basis of the multislice method, and the optics of a FEG Super TWIN Philips CM 200 TEM operated at 80 kV. The effect of nanocomposite thickness on both image contrast and typical electron diffraction reflections of nanofillers were explored. The implications of the results on the experimental applicability to study dispersion, chirality and diameter of nanofillers are discussed.

Sola, Francisco↗

Automatic DEM Generation Using Magellan Stereo Data

The Magellan radar instrument collected a large volume of radar stereo images during its two years of operation. In order to make full use of this data an automatic means of generating digital elevation models is required. Because of Magellan's unique orbital geometry and radar image formation algorithm a number of modifications to the standard stereo processing scheme are required. This paper outlines a stereo algorithm suitable for Magellan data.

magellan radar images radar stereo images digital ↗

The Alaska SAR processor

The Alaska SAR processor was designed to process over 200 100 km x 100 km (Seasat like) frames per day from the raw SAR data, at a ground resolution of 30 m x 30 m from ERS-1, J-ERS-1, and Radarsat. The near real time processor is a set of custom hardware modules operating in a pipelined architecture, controlled by a general purpose computer. Input to the processor is provided from a high density digital cassette recording of the raw data stream as received by the ground station. A two pass processing is performed. During the first pass clutter-lock and auto-focus measurements are made. The second pass uses the results to accomplish final image formation which is recorded on a high density digital cassette. The processing algorithm uses fast correlation techniques for range and azimuth compression. Radiometric compensation, interpolation and deskewing is also performed by the processor. The standard product of the ASP is a high resolution four-look image, with a low resolution (100 to 200 m) many look image provided simultaneously.

Carande, R. E.↗

BOREAS TE-20 Soils Data Over the NSA-MSA and Tower Sites in Raster Format

The BOREAS TE-20 team collected several data sets for use in developing and testing models of forest ecosystem dynamics. This data set was gridded from vector layers of soil maps that were received from Dr. Hugo Veldhuis, who did the original mapping in the field during 1994. The vector layers were gridded into raster files that cover the NSA-MSA and tower sites. The data are stored in binary, image format files. The data files are available on a CD-ROM (see document number 20010000884), or from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Center (DAAC).

Hall, Forrest G.↗